Hidden Figures is based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Margot Lee Sheerly about female African-American mathematicians at NASA. The film stars Taraji P. Henson as Katherine G. Johnson, a mathematician who calculated flight trajectories for Project Mercury and other missions. It also features Octavia Spencer as Dorothy Vaughan and Janelle Monáe as Mary Jackson, with Kevin Costner, Jim Parsons, and Mahershala Ali in supporting roles.

I was surprised to see Parsons and Ali in the film. Ali is also in Moonlight. He is nominated for Best Supporting Actor in that film. It seems odd that Spencer, rather than Henson, was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in this film.

Hidden Figures is a solid movie. The film is not as creatively ambitious as Moonlight or Manchester by the Sea. It is not going to win Best Picture. With two weeks until the Oscars, we have now seen seven of the nine films nominated for Best Picture.